It seems ages ago now since I created this card and I decided that it was about danged time that I shared it with you. This is the second card that I created for the demonstrator swap featuring stamps from the July – December mini catalog. I love the way that the organizers coordinate this particular swap. When you sign up you specify your top 3 stamp sets that you would like to use, and the host will let you know which ones you are assigned. It may sound restrictive but they do this so that the participants will receive samples from a nice variety of stamps and you don’t get a ton for a single set. It’s always amazing to see what people create – especially with sets where my original reaction was “meh”. It’s like my birthday every time a package of swaps arrive in the mail!

The Frosted Gingerbread stamp set caught my eye when I made my first journey through the mini catalog. There have been cookie-like Christmas sets in the past, but I never purchased them. This year I was looking for sets that are a bit different than what I usually buy, and I really love the combination of the images and the greetings in this particular set. And I absolutely ADORE the patterned papers! There are some great patterns and some wonderful images that I can fussy-cut to include on Holiday cards. I think the Gingerbread & Peppermint Suite is da bomb!

I used this really old sketch as the inspiration for my card layout. The proportions are a little different in my design, but I think that you’ll be able to see how I leveraged this design.

When I’m participating in a swap I like to use patterned paper if I can because it adds so much to a design either with color, pattern or both. The trick is that I need to use a small amount of it so that I have enough to make a bunch of the same design. The same is true for embellishments that I include. In this case I used a bit of ribbon for the cookie ornament – it adds some pizzazz without making a huge dent in my supply of the ribbon. This layout seemed perfect to add a bit of paper to add some interest without using a ton.

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